Various Bad Plus Concerts

Yeah, I know it's not Monday. I have too many music posts in the hopper to just dole them out weekly. Deal with it.

I dig the Bad Plus. Here are some links to concerts that show their range.

Live At the Village Vanguard is a New Year's Eve concert. This is the trio doing their thing.

The Rite of Spring is their take on Stravinski's 20th century ballet masterpiece. This is quite a limb they are going out on, but it works for me. Note that the first bit of audio at the top of the article is for the interview. Go down a bit to find the audio link for the concert.

[update: I just listened to this piece all the way through. It is ambitious and truly tremendous.]

With the Frankfurt Radio Big Band is on a site that is completely written in German, but the music knows no language. A big band's horns add to the compositions so well. The most remarkable piece is The Hope Chest, which starts at the 36:00 mark. The big band has a piece that the conductor/arranger wrote for them. The Bad Plus improvised their parts to accompany them on the fly. Note that there are two parts to the concert. In Part 2, the big band version of Giant is good stuff, as is the encore Layin' a Strip For the Higher-Self State Line.